Combined shipping pallet/container

ABSTRACT

A combined shipping pallet/container for use in conjunction with a forklift truck and which comprises an outer paperboard container having a plurality of fork receiving openings contained in the lower portion thereof. The outer container has a plurality of spacers fixed to the bottom of the container with the spacers defining a plurality of channels for receiving the forks of the forklift truck. Contained within the outer container and resting on top of the plurality of spacers is an inner container for receiving the contents of the combination pallet/container. The combined pallet/container is adaptable for four-way entry of the forklift truck and the containers are designed for quick and easy stacking within a standard automotive truck or railroad car. The pallet/container may be shipped broken down as a storable package which may then be stored at the user&#39;&#39;s warehouse until the containers are set up for use in the user&#39;&#39;s business after which they can be again broken down and returned or stored for later re-use.

limited States Patent 1 [451 May 1, 1973 Lawson 1541 COMBINED SHIPPING PALLET/CONTAINER [75] Inventor: De Wayne L. Lawson, Mentor, Ky.

[73] Assignee: Olinkraft, Inc, West Monroe, La.

[22] Filed: Oct. 4, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 185,960

[52] US. Cl. ..229/23 R, 206/60 A [51] Int. Cl. ..B65d 13/00 [58] Field of Search ..229/23 R, 14 C; 206/60 A [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,442,434 5/1969 De Simas ..229/23 R X 2,540,595 2/1951 Props ....229/23 R 3,073,500 l/l963 Goodrich et al.. ....229/l4 C 7 3,666,165 5/1972 Osborne et al ..229/23 R 3,480,196 11/1969 De Simas ..229/23 R 2,894,671 7/1959 Nicholls..... ....229/14 C 3,291,364 12/1966 Fischer .229/23 R X 3,568,912 3/1971 De Simas ..229/23 R Primary Examiner-Davis T. Moorhead Att0rneyN. E. Von Behren [5 7] ABSTRACT A combined shipping pallet/container for use in conjunction with a forklift truck and which comprises an outer paperboard container having a plurality of fork receiving openings contained in the lower portion thereof. The outer container has a plurality of spacers fixed to the bottom of the container with the spacers defining a plurality of channels for receiving the forks of the forklift truck. Contained within the outer container and resting on top of the plurality of spacers is an inner container for receiving the contents of the combination pallet/container.

The combined pallet/container is adaptable for fourway entry of the forklift truck and the containers are designed for quick and easy stacking within a standard automotive truck or railroad car. The pallet/container may be shipped broken down as a storable package which may then be stored at the user's warehouse until the containers are set up for use in the users business after which they can be again broken down and returned or stored for later re-use.

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COMBINED SHIPPING PALLET/CONTAINER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a combination shipping pallet/container and more particularly to an improved pallet/container which is manufactured of paperboard and provides four-way entry into the pallet with the entire pallet/container being formed of easily recyclable materials.

The use of pallets for shipping large quantities of articles which must be stored at their ultimate destination in the shippers warehouse is of course known in the art today. Such prior art pallets were generally made of a wooden construction in various configurations and were designed for receiving the forks of a forklift truck which generally was used to convey the loaded pallet from the shipping vehicle to the warehouse of the shipper and/or user of the contents of the pallet.

Since the. costs of manufacturing a wooden pallet were often extremely high when compared to the cost of the goods contained upon the pallet, various manufacturers have attempted throughout the years to minimize the cost of the pallet by providing pallets made of materials less expensive and lighter in weight than the standard wood pallets. One such attempt at manufacturing a pallet of this nature is taught in the U.S. Pat. to James A Farrell, No. 2,576,715 issued Nov. 27, 1951. In this patent the inventor attempted to provide an improved pallet being formed from a fiber board material which was relatively inexpensive and was shaped into the desired configuration for use as a pallet. Pallets such as this, while serving a specific purpose provided for only two-way entry of the forks of the forklift truck, that is the entry apertures 18 as shown in FIG. 1 of the patent allowed access to the pallet and the pallet load from only two directions as can readily be seen. In addition, these pallets were not easily set up for use. It became obvious that the pallet and the pallet load could not be shifted 90 which was often desired due to the two-way entry.

With this in mind, attempts were then made to obtain a four-way entry pallet which would allow the forklift operator much greater latitude in moving the palletized load around the warehouse. One such solution to this problem was taught in the US. Pat. to Sidney C. Porter, No. 2,503,562, issued Apr. 11, 1950, wherein he provided a four-way entry pallet in combination with a plurality of upright sidewalls 16 and 17 which is allowed the respective pallets to be nested on top of each other without crushing the load contained on the lower pallets. These pallets were expensive to manufacture, were also extremely heavy and the empty container took up precious warehouse space that could not be wasted.

As the'palleting art developed attempts were made to provide a unitized pallet container such as that shown in the US. Pat. to M. D. King, No. 2,685,398, issued Aug. 3, 1954, wherein the pallet and the shipping container could be manufactured as a unit so that the load contents of the pallet were not required to be banded to the pallet itself as was often the practice prior to the in troduction of the applicants new and novel pallet. This attempt by the patentee again provided for only a twoway entry of the forklifts of the fork truck thereby severly limiting the flexibility of the pallet. A more recent attempt at unitizing the pallet and container is shown in the US. Pat. issued to John P. De Laney, No.

3,126,843, issued Mar. 31, 1964, wherein he provided a plastic pallet having glued thereto a container 9, as shown in FIG. 1 of the drawings, in which the objects shipped on the pallet were placed. Such an improvement was expensive and provided for only two-way entry of the forklift truck thereby limiting the flexibility of the pallet as before mentioned. In addition it was difficult to dispose of after it was used.

A most recent attempt at solving this perplexing problem is shown in the US. Pat. issued to J. De Simas, No. 3,480,196, issued Nov. 25, 1969, wherein an attempt was made to provide a unitized pallet container having four-way entry and being manufactured from some cheap material such as paperboard. The complexity of this type of unitized pallet/container with its many separate pieces made the cost of setting up the pallet prohibitive. In addition the patentee had to resort to a two-way entry pallet in order to obtain sufficient structural strength in the pallet to carry heavy loads. For example, the unitized pallet container shown in FIGS. 1 through 3 of the drawings would be sufficient for use with light loads depending upon the strength of the platform 24. However, it should become obvious that when the loads to be contained within the con tainer and to be carried by the pallet become medium to extremely heavy then the embodiments shown in FIGS. 5 through 9 of the drawings must be resorted to rendering the four-way entry impossible and resorting to a two-way entry pallet. A final drawback in this pallet is noted in that the many parts are die cut and as of machines for die cutting.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to remove the problems encountered with the before mentioned prior art pallets there has been provided by the subject application a new and novel shipping pallet/container having a four-way entry for use by a forklift truck or other lifting means with the pallet/container being formed of reusable and recyclable materials such as paperboard of the like. The pallet/container comprises an outer paperboard container which is formed with a plurality of pairs of openings on all four of the lower sides of the container for entry of the forks of the lifting device. To the basic outer paperboard container is added a plurality of spacers which are fixedly attached to the bottom of the outer container in a spaced relationship so as to form a plurality of channels for four-way entry of the forks of the lifting device. Into this basic structure is inserted an inner container having formed thereon a plurality of bottom flaps with the flaps being folded inwardly and positioned on top of the spacers thereby providing a bottom surface for the reception of the articles contained within the container and also providing the necessary strength and rigidity to the combination pallet/container to withstand the vibration and shocks of transportation. In addition adequate strength is provided for long storage conditions.

Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a new and novel shipping pallet/container having four-way entry.

Another object of the invention is to provide a new and novel shipping pallet/container which may be formed of reusable and recyclable materials and is provided with sufficient strength for carrying a multitude of objects varying in weight and size.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a new and novel shipping pallet/container which may be easily stored at the user's job site and may be easily and quickly assembled with a minimum of set-up time.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a new and novel shipping pallet/container which may itself be shipped as an easily storable package to the warehouse site.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a new and novel shipping pallet/container which provides four-way entry into the container in such a manner that the operator of the lifting device, such as a forklift truck, is not required to reset the forks of his truck in order to achieve the four-way entry.

A further object of the invention is to provide a new and novel shipping pallet/container which is constructed in sizes which are compatible for easy and full loading of existing automotive truck and railroad car vehicles and will provide a completely enclosed pallet/container that will reduce product damage and pilfering.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a new and novel shipping pallet/container which may be constantly reused as a shipping pallet/container until it is desired to knock it down in its original flat condition after which it may be shipped to its original destination.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a new and novel shipping pallet/container that will support its own payload and will support considerable weight of payloads being stacked on top ofit.

These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from a review of the drawings and from a reading of the specification teaching the preferred embodiment of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side perspective view of the new and novel shipping pallet/container of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the container shown in FIG. 1 showing the components of the new and novel shipping pallet/container;

FIG. 3 is a top view showing the outer container of the subject invention as manufactured in a two-piece construction;

FIG. 4 is a top view of the inner container of the subject invention showing the container manufactured in a one-piece construction;

FIG. 5 shows a partial side perspective view of the new and novel shipping pallet/container as loaded in a standard automotive truck;

FIG. 6 is a side view of the standard automotive truck shown in FIG. 5 showing the loading of the new and novel shipping pallet/container along the length of the truck;

FIG. 7 is a partial side perspective view of the loading ofthe subject invention in a standard railroad car;

FIG. 8 is a side view showing the subject invention loaded lengthwise in the railroad car shown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a side perspective view of the subject invention packaged as a storable package ready for shipment to the user of the shipping pallet/container shown in FIG. 1 of the drawings; and

FIG. 10 is a side perspective view of the spacers of the subject invention packaged as an easily storable package ready for shipment to the user of the combination shipping pallet/container shown in FIG. 1 of the drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings in general and specifically to FIG. 1 of the drawings there is shown generally by the numeral 10 the combination pallet/container of the subject invention and comprises an outer paperboard container 12 having formed in the lower portion a plurality of pairs of openings 14 and 16 which are sized and spaced to receive the forks of a forklift truck or some other suitable lifting device. The pairs of openings 14 and 16 are formed also in the two opposite sides not shown in FIG. 1 of the drawings which will become readily apparent from a study of the other views of the drawings, particularly FIGS. 2 and 3 and are equally spaced on all four sides.

Referring now to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 of the drawings, there is shown in greater detail the combination pallet/container 10 of the invention. The outer container 12 may be formed with a plurality of top flaps 18 formed on opposite sides of the container and a plurality of top flaps 20 formed on the other sides of the container. The top flaps 18 and 20 are folded inwardly in a manner standard in the packaging art to completely enclose the 'upper portion of the container 10. The flaps 18 may then be rigidly held together by means ofa plurality of staples 22 or some other suitable fastening means well known in the art.

Also formed on the outer container 12, at the bottom portion thereof is a plurality of bottom flaps 24 on opposite sides thereof and a plurality of bottom flaps 26 formed on opposite sides of the other side thereof. The bottom flaps 24 and 26 are folded inwardly as illustrated in FIG. 2 and are securely held in place by fastening means such as staples, glue or other means well known in the art.

The outer container 12 may be formed in a two-piece configuration as shown in FIG. 3 of the drawings with side flaps 28 and 30 which are fastened to their respective sides 32 and 34 by means well known in the art such as gluing, stapling and so forth. In addition it may also be formed in a one-piece construction without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The outer container 12 may be formed of corrugated paperboard or some other reusable, recyclable material having sufficient strength characteristics for carrying the load to be contained within the combination pallet/container.

In order to provide the subject pallet/container with quick changeability of the four-way entry the pairs of openings 14 and 16 contained in the bottom portion of the outer container 12 are spaced so that their center line distance 36 and 38 are approximately equal. In this way the operator of the forklift truck is not required to constantly reset the forks of his truck whenever he desires entry into any one of the sides of the pallet. In the preferred form of the invention described more fully hereinafter it has been found that the center line distance of 16-3/16 inches is preferable whenever the distance 40 is approximately 8 inches and the distance 42 is approximately 2 inches. These distances permit the combination pallet/container to be used {with a majority of the forklift trucks and other lifting devices available on the market today. The pairs of openings 14 and 16 are preferably located approximately onequarter of an inch above the score line 44 about which the bottom flaps 24 and 26 are pivoted in forming the combination pallet/container.

Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 4 of the drawings there is shown in the inner container 46 which may be formed of corrugated paperboard or some other suitable easily recyclable and reusable material. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4 of the drawings the inner container 46 is formed in a one-piece construction comprising a plurality of sides 48 hingedly attached to a plurality of sides 50 by means of a plurality of score lines 52. It is noted also that the inner container may also be formed in a two, three or four piece construction without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The inner container 46 has formed along the bottom thereof a plurality of bottom flaps 54 and a plurality of bottom flaps 56 which are hingedly attached to the sides 48 and 50 by means of the score lines 58.

REferring now particularly to FIG. 2 of the drawings there is shown in the exploded perspective view a plurality of spacers 60 which may be formed of paperboard, wood, or other means. The spacers 60 are fixedly attached by means of glue or some other suitable fastening means to the bottom flaps 54 and 56 which form the bottom of the outer container 12 whenever said outer container is formed into the container shown in FIG. 2. The spacers 60 are fixedly attached to the bottom of the outer container 112 in a spaced relationship to each other to form a plurality of channels 62 and 64 allowing entry of the forks of the forklift truck whenever the forks are inserted into the pair of openings 14 or pair of openings 16. The spacers 60 also provide means for supporting the load carried within the combination pallet/container whenever the container is positioned in the users warehouse.

In operation the combination pallet/container is formed at the job site by means of rapidly forming the outer container 12 by means well known in the art, placing therein the plurality of spacers 60 and fixedly attaching them to the bottom of the outer container 12. Thereupon the inner container 46 is rapidly set up in the form shown in FIG. 2 and is inserted into the outer container 12 with its bottom flaps 54 and 56 being positioned on top of the spacers 60. The combination shipping pallet/container is then filled with the objects to be contained therein and the top flaps l8 and are pivoted about score line 66 and are folded inwardly being held in place by means well known in the art such as by means of the plurality of staples 22. If the combination shipping pallet/container is formed in a rectangular shape then the operator of the forklift truck may stack the container 10 in whatever position and direction he desired by means of the four-way entry provided by the pair of openings 14 and pair of openings 16 which are equally spaced on their center line distances 36 and 38.

Referring now to FIGS. 5 through 8 of the drawings, there is illustrated the manner in which the combination shipping pallet/container may be utilized to provide maximum use of space in an automotive truck 68 or railroad car 70 as well as to provide maximum space in the warehouse of the user. Whenever the pallet/container of the subject invention is fabricated with an inside dimension of approximately 41 X 35 X 24 inches, there is provided a volume of the container of approximately 21 cubic feet. The outer dimensions thereby of this container would be approximately 42 X 36 X 28 inches which thereby is readily adaptable for loading in a standard automotive truck 68 in the two wide by three high manner shown in FIG. 5 and in addition may be readily loaded in the standard railroad boxcar 70 in the three wide by three high manner shown in FIG. 7 of the drawing. When the combination pallet/containers are loaded in the automotive truck 68 there are provided a total of 78 pallet boxes which may be contained within the truck 68. When the loading arrangement shown in FIG. 7 of the drawings is utilized with the railroad car 70 there is provided a total of I20 pallet boxes which may be shipped in the railroad car 70. From the design of this container it has been found that a safe load of approximately 2,000 pounds may be carried with a twenty percent safety factor thereby allowing the standard automotive truck 68 to carry a total average weight of approximately 62,000 pounds while the standard railroad car 70 would carry a total average weight of approximately 96,000 pounds.

In setting up this container at the job site a very constructive beginning time would require approximately three minutes for one man to set up one container, however, once he has adjusted himself to the type of container and the ease of setting up of this container then his set-up time is reduced by approximately 50 percent allowing him to set up 45 pallet boxes in l hours time. This time could be further reduced with the aid of automatic staplers or by the use of a glue gun.

Referring now to FIGS. 9 and 10 of the drawings there is shown in a side perspective view in FIG. 9 a shipping package comprising a load of the outer containers 12 and/or the inner container 46 which has been packaged as an easily storable package by utilizing a plurality of spacers 72 in combination with a plurality of straps 74 which are banded around the knocked-down outer containers 12 and/or inner containers 46. Whenever the package shown in FIG. 9 comprises the outer cartons 12 and is formed to the dimensions previously mentioned, the width, length and height of the knocked-down package will conform to that shown in FIG. 9. Whenever the shipping package shown in FIG. 9 comprises the inner cartons the width and length of the package will coincide with the 42 /2inches dimension and the 77 /2inches dimension shown in the FIG. 9 illustration also.

Referring now to FIG. 10 there is shown the shipping packages for the spacers 60 which comprises the plurality of spacers 60 formed into a unitary package pallet by means of the spacers 76 and the plurality of straps 78 which provide a complete package of the dimension shown in FIG. 10. From the above it can be seen that the combination pallet/container of the instant invention can be easily and readily shipped in its knocked-down condition for easy storage with fourway forklift entry also.

From the foregoing it should become readily apparent that there has been provided a new and novel durable shipping pallet/container which is designed to provide maximum use of space in trucks and rail cars as well as designed to provide maximum use of the space in the users warehouse. With the use of the instant invention the use of wooden pallets becomes obsolete since the new and novel shipping container has its own pallet built into the container. The novel pallet/container has four-way entry for forklift trucks and in addition provides for alignment of the forked holes to be equally spaced on all four sides thus removing the need of having to readjust the forks of the forklift truck once they have been set whenever entry is desired in a different direction. The subject invention can also be reused time and time again after it has finished its initial task and after it has been completely work out as a shipping container it can be sold as a scrap item or as scrap corrugated paper may be reclaimed and recycled and used again to produce paper.

Since the thickness and dimensions of the paperboard container may be varied to suit the loading conditions encountered the combination pallet/container may be stacked as high as desired with complete safety, within normal material handling conditions. By the use of the subject invention the replacement cost of metal drums, wooden pallets, increase in storage space and other factors is greatly decreased thereby resulting in the savings of many dollars and cents of shipping costs for the articles enclosed within the container.

While the present invention has been described and illustrated by reference to the preferred embodiment it will be readily apparent that the invention lends itself to various modifications which will be obvious to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, reference should be made solely to the appended claims to determine the scope of the invention.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A shipping pallet/container for use in conjunction with a forklift truck having a pair of forks attached thereto, comprising:

a. an outer paperboard container having formed thereon a plurality of top flaps and a plurality of bottom flaps;

1. first means, associated with said bottom flaps,

for fastening said bottom flaps of said outer container to each other to form a bottom for said outer container;

2. second means, associated with said top flaps, for fastening said top flaps of said outer container to each other to form a top for said outer container; 3. said outer container having formed in the lower portion thereof a plurality of pairs of openings for entry of the forks of the fork lift truck;

b. a plurality of spacers fixedly attached to the inside of said bottom of said outer container in a spaced relationship to each other to form a plurality of channels for receiving the forks of the forklift truck; said spacers permitting four-way entry of the forklift forks from the four sides of the pallet/container as well as a diagonal four-way entry of the forklift forks from the four corners of the pallet/container;

c. a removeable inner paperboard container, sized for insertion and positioning inside said outer container whenever said top flaps are unfastened, said inner container having formed thereon a plurality of inward] folded bottom flapsfor positioning on top of sat spacers and for providing a bottom for said inner container;

d. said outer and inner containers coacting so that whenever the top flaps of the outer container are fastened, the inner container serves to transmit a portion of the upward lifting forces from the forklift truck to the fastened top flaps of the outer container whenever the shipping pallet/container is lifted upwardly by the forks of the fork lift truck; and

e. said fastened outer container, with said removable inner container positioned therein, also serving as the means for rigidly crossbracing the shipping pallet/container as a unit thereby eliminating any crossbracing of the pallet/container between the spacers.

2. The shipping pallet/container as defined in claim 1 further comprising the spacers being fixedly attached to the inner side of the bottom of the outer container by means of an adhesive.

3. The shipping pallet/container as defined in claim 1 further comprising the spacers being fixedly attached to the inner side of the bottom of the outer container and to the outer side of the bottom of the inner container by means of the indention caused by the weight of the product carried in the pallet/container.

4. The pallet/container as defined in claim 1 further comprising each of said pairs of openings being spaced apart from each other in an equal amount thereby allowing the forks of the forklift truck to enter the pallet/container from any of the four sides available without the necessity of having to change the fork spacings.

5. The pallet/container as defined in claim 4 further comprising each pair of openings on one side of the pallet/container being spaced apart from the pair of openings on the adjacent side in an amount sufficient to allow the forks of the forklift truck to enter the pallet/container from any of the four available corners of the pallet/container without the necessity of having to change the fork spacings thereby providing a pallet/container which allows eight-way entry of the forks into the pallet/container. 

1. A shipping pallet/container for use in conjunction with a forklift truck having a pair of forks attached thereto, comprising: a. an outer paperboard container having formed thereon a plurality of top flaps and a plurality of bottom flaps;
 1. first means, associated with said bottom flaps, for fastenIng said bottom flaps of said outer container to each other to form a bottom for said outer container;
 2. second means, associated with said top flaps, for fastening said top flaps of said outer container to each other to form a top for said outer container;
 3. said outer container having formed in the lower portion thereof a plurality of pairs of openings for entry of the forks of the fork lift truck; b. a plurality of spacers fixedly attached to the inside of said bottom of said outer container in a spaced relationship to each other to form a plurality of channels for receiving the forks of the forklift truck; said spacers permitting four-way entry of the forklift forks from the four sides of the pallet/container as well as a diagonal four-way entry of the forklift forks from the four corners of the pallet/container; c. a removeable inner paperboard container, sized for insertion and positioning inside said outer container whenever said top flaps are unfastened, said inner container having formed thereon a plurality of inwardly folded bottom flaps for positioning on top of said spacers and for providing a bottom for said inner container; d. said outer and inner containers coacting so that whenever the top flaps of the outer container are fastened, the inner container serves to transmit a portion of the upward lifting forces from the forklift truck to the fastened top flaps of the outer container whenever the shipping pallet/container is lifted upwardly by the forks of the fork lift truck; and e. said fastened outer container, with said removable inner container positioned therein, also serving as the means for rigidly crossbracing the shipping pallet/container as a unit thereby eliminating any crossbracing of the pallet/container between the spacers.
 2. second means, associated with said top flaps, for fastening said top flaps of said outer container to each other to form a top for said outer container;
 2. The shipping pallet/container as defined in claim 1 further comprising the spacers being fixedly attached to the inner side of the bottom of the outer container by means of an adhesive.
 3. The shipping pallet/container as defined in claim 1 further comprising the spacers being fixedly attached to the inner side of the bottom of the outer container and to the outer side of the bottom of the inner container by means of the indention caused by the weight of the product carried in the pallet/container.
 3. said outer container having formed in the lower portion thereof a plurality of pairs of openings for entry of the forks of the fork lift truck; b. a plurality of spacers fixedly attached to the inside of said bottom of said outer container in a spaced relationship to each other to form a plurality of channels for receiving the forks of the forklift truck; said spacers permitting four-way entry of the forklift forks from the four sides of the pallet/container as well as a diagonal four-way entry of the forklift forks from the four corners of the pallet/container; c. a removeable inner paperboard container, sized for insertion and positioning inside said outer container whenever said top flaps are unfastened, said inner container having formed thereon a plurality of inwardly folded bottom flaps for positioning on top of said spacers and for providing a bottom for said inner container; d. said outer and inner containers coacting so that whenever the top flaps of the outer container are fastened, the inner container serves to transmit a portion of the upward lifting forces from the forklift truck to the fastened top flaps of the outer container whenever the shipping pallet/container is lifted upwardly by the forks of the fork lift truck; and e. said fastened outer container, with said removable inner container positioned therein, also serving as the means for rigidly crossbracing the shipping pallet/container as a unit thereby eliminating any crossbracing of the pallet/container between the spacers.
 4. The pallet/container as defined in claim 1 further comprising each of said pairs of openings being spaced apart from each other in an equal amount thereby allowing the forks of the forklift truck to enter the pallet/container from any of the four sides available without the necessity of having to change the fork spacings.
 5. The pallet/container as defined in claim 4 further comprising each pair of openings on one side of the pallet/container being spaced apart from the pair of openings on the adjacent side in an amount sufficient to allow the forks of the forklift truck to enter the pallet/container from any of the four available corners of the pallet/container without the necessity of having to change the fork spacings thereby providing a pallet/container which allows eight-way entry of the forks into the pallet/container. 